The underdog of global warming. African deforestation

Every day Western Africa is losing vast territories covered by the unique forests. What is causing the equatorial and tropical deforestation? The global commodity production, ineffective agricultural activities and the reluctant attempts of local farmers to escape from poverty. There are convincing arguments approving that unexampled poverty is the main driver of the deforestation in Sub-Saharan Africa that contrasts the region from similar ecosystems of South America and Asia. However, this issue is far beyond the competence of the local farmers and the responsibility should be shared across various communities, enterprise and governments involved into solving the environmental and economic challenges of Sub-Saharan Africa. What is the consequence of such deforestation? Devastating effects are similar by scales to the global use of fossil fuel use that will result in significant and irreversible warming of our planet. Meanwhile scientists, policymakers and business are seeking for the effective solutions to tackle regional challenges in the developing regions, we are unfolding the new map with spatial distribution of West African deforestation in 2000-2012 years from SEDAC Earth Data portal.
Data acknowledgments:
Source: LANDSAT data